Of Flowers and Shinobi
by MyPastLife
Summary: After Pein strikes, the village has some major rebuilding to do. The Yamanakas are no exception. What starts as an innocent repair mission turns into something more. NaruIno. Now AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Of Flowers and Shinobi**

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: This is a NaruIno fic. I will have other pairings in the story, but this will mainly focus on Naruto and Ino. If you don't like this pairing, don't read this, and don't flame me for not having another pairing. Honestly, all authors can't have every single pairing in a story. This takes place after the Pein arc. Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. If I did, Tobi would be a GREAT boy! (And then if Deidara read this, he would unleash a sweatdrop so large the Pacific Ocean would be jealous.)**

_Naruto was at Ichiraku's, staring at the biggest bowl of miso ramen he has ever seen. He then felt himself being forced away from the ramen and turned to see a figure dressed in all black, staring at him._

"_Naruto" The deep voice called from the black mass. "Don't eat the ramen; you will be killed by the Empire."_

"_Who the fuck are you?" Naruto asks intelligently._

"_I am your father, and my name is Darth Vader."_

RIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! RIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!

A hand seeks out a button on top of the alarm clock, and slams it down. The alarm clock immediately shuts up. It reads _5:30_.

'_I really shouldn't have gone over to Kiba's place to watch those weird movies his sister collects.' _Naruto thinks to himself. _'If they can invade my dreams that quickly, there's no telling what would happen if he showed me those "Saw" movies.' _ Naruto shivered at the thought of the pasty white doll with the swirls on its cheeks. '_Better get ready, otherwise Baa-chan is going to kick my ass.'_

_1 hour later_

"Are you serious?" Naruto whines.

"Shut up brat, and keep your voice down. Momma's got her sake, and you have your mission" Tsunade growls. _'And with the paperwork coming through here, I'm going to need it.'_

Tsunade mentally groaned at the thought.

_10 minutes later_

After meeting with the drowsy (and unsurprisingly hung-over) Hokage, he had his mission. Fishing the official mission request out of his pocket, he reads over the info.

_Client: Inoichi Yamanaka_

_Mission Parameters: Repair and Reconstruction_

_Mission Details: Major damage to Yamanaka Flower Shop and Yamanaka residence needs to be repaired. Client requests help with rebuilding greenhouse adjacent to house as well._

_Mission Rank: D_

_Shinobi Requested: Any available_

_Mission pay: 1500 ryo_

_Shinobi Assigned: Uzumaki Naruto_

Sighing, Naruto tucked the request back into his pocket. The sun was beginning to rise, and it was already quite warm outside. It was going to be hot.

_5 minutes later_

Meanwhile, Inoichi was working on getting the greenhouse back up. And boy, were those panels heavy. He was in the process of grabbing another one to put up, when he spotted Konoha's most knuckleheaded ninja walking towards him.

"Hey Naruto, did you get the mission request to help rebuild?" Inoichi asks.

"Yeah, baa-chan gave it to me this morning. You look like you need help." Naruto replies.

"Yea, I do. I need help rebuilding the greenhouse, and I already took care of the preparation for the interior of the shop. It just needs dry walled and painted."

"I can take care of that easily." Naruto says. _'You don't grow up hated by a village and not fix up your place after your birthday' _he thought.

"Really?" Inoichi mused. "How do you know how to do that?" he asks. He had witnessed several beatings and riots thrown at and about Naruto when he was young. He had already "dealt" with the ninja who were involved. They were currently on the "MIA" list in ANBU headquarters.

Naruto laughs nervously. "Well, before I learned how to cook, I had a few accidents, and well, it burned up once…or twice." Naruto added his large grin and scratched the back of his head.

Inoichi laughs, on the outside at least. '_All these years, and he is still affected by the abuse and hatred the villagers took out on him. His father would be beyond enraged if he were alive! He would have leveled half the village for god's sake!' _Inoichi grinned at that thought. He had been friends with Minato ever since they were in the Academy. Minato, being the prodigy he was, had all sorts of friends, but Inoichi and Minato were almost like brothers. They told each other everything, including later on when Minato told Inoichi about his plans to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. Inoichi had given his promise not to tell Naruto about what his father left him until he was at least a Jounin. With all of the rebuilding going on, the loss of shinobi was significant enough for the village to consider recruiting more ninja. With that thought in mind, he couldn't wait for Naruto to get promoted to Jounin. He deserved it more than anyone. And, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he wanted to tell Naruto of his inheritance.

"So, where do you want to start?" Naruto asks, snapping Inoichi out of his thoughts.

"Um, we'll start on the East side." Inoichi explains. "I have all of the materials needed, and all that is left to do is find my 'interior designer'."

"Who's the desi-" Naruto gets cut off as one blonde kunoichi walks towards them, wearing a purple halter top, and a purple skirt with a slit that ran up one leg.

"That would be me, Naruto." Ino says gleefully.

Naruto spots Inoichi's left eyebrow slightly twitching. _'Ah, she probably pounced on the opportunity when she realized we would be painting.'_

"Well, then are you going to order us around or do something?" Naruto asks bluntly.

"I am going to paint, since I can't help you guys too much with the dry walling. I'm clueless when it comes to that stuff."

"Alright, let's get started. _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu__!" _ Half-yelled Naruto.

50 clones pop up into existence.

"Alright, I need 10 of you to measure and cut the drywall, another ten to put up the drywall, and the rest of you to smooth over the nails." Naruto directed. Immediately, they went to work.

He then turned to the other 20. "Alright" Naruto points at the greenhouse (a quarter of the way complete) "Put this damn thing together, and don't come whining to me that the panels are heavy!",Naruto shouts. Needless to say, he didn't give a flying fuck about the greenhouse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow. Within 30 minutes of posting my story, I had over 20 hits and a review! This is where I will discuss reviews if I have the time. This chapter may have been posted really closely (timewise) to the first, but high school is leaving me little time to update, and lots to think about. I'm sorry if updates are few and far between at times, but sometimes that just can't be helped.**

**Darkryus: Thanks for being my first reviewer! And yes, I am planning on updating soon.**

**Dark Gothic Lolita: Thanks, that was a major boost to my inner writer's esteem.**

**A/N: I got a puppy today. Soooo cute!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. If I did, Kisame would wear nothing but a pink leotard. (Admit it, you secretly find that uber sexy!)**

Currently, Naruto and Ino had a little break time, when Inoichi had to go and help out with an interrogation at ANBU headquarters. The greenhouse was up, filled with newly planted plants, and a state of the art watering system.

Ino, however, was deep in thought.

'_Should we use a light pink and cream mix or a light shade of mahogany?' _ Ino wonders.

"Hey Ino, I have an idea. What do you think about baby blue?" Naruto calls.

"Let me see." Ino says, and starts taking inventory of all colors in the room. '_Well, it does match all of the furniture, countertops, and even the sign!'_

"It's perfect, Naruto!" Ino squeals. She honestly had no idea how he has any sense of color picking. She put that information to the back of her mind.

"Really?" Naruto asks. "To be honest, I suggested that color 'cause I think that would bring out your eyes."

Ino instantly wore a "where the fuck did that come from?" face.

Naruto noticed this and added hastily, waving his hands. "Not that I don't think your eyes aren't pretty, it's just I thought-"

Ino was trying so hard not to giggle out loud, but Naruto seemed to take notice of this fact.

"What's so funny?" Asked Naruto.

"You are kinda cute when you're flustered!" Ino says, and then turns beet red and covers her mouth.

'_Did I just say that?'_ thought Ino.

Naruto locked up, like a Neanderthal in an ice block.

The door opened up and Inoichi walked back in, and saw Naruto staring into space and his daughter red and covering her mouth. He instantly realized something awkward had just been said, and _sloooowly_ went back out of where he came from.

The sound of the door closing snapped Naruto back into reality.

"Umm Ino, I have to go." Naruto says abruptly.

"Wh-" Ino begins to ask, but all she hears is the door shutting again.

'_I wonder where he needs to be.'_ Ino thought. She then got her normal clothes back on along with her sandals and left in pursuit.

_30 minutes later_

Ino found him training with his Kage Bunshins on what appeared to be some odd style of taijutsu. She watched as he made seemingly random and sporadic twists in mid-flight, using his clones as a springboard for the next attack.

"Like what you see?" A voice says right behind her.

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" Ino screams.

A sound of mad cackling fills the air around her. Eye twitching, she turns around to a laughing Naruto.

A _shirtless_ laughing Naruto.

She didn't stand a chance. One quick glance at the chocolate-bar shaped abs, and blood flew out of her nose, propelling her backwards into a small stream.

Naruto, being the caring guy he is, followed her into the stream and pulled her out. When she looked back, she saw a shirtless _and now wet_ Naruto, with his body glistening and golden hair dripping.

Ino once again shot off with concussive force with a massive nosebleed.

Naruto was bewildered why Ino kept getting nosebleeds. Then, he looked down. '_So what, I'm not wearing a shirt. Oh..'_

Naruto mentally slapped himself.

Putting a shirt back on, he went to find Ino.

_50 minutes later_

When Ino came to, all she could think about was Naruto.

'_Yummy!' _Ino squealed in her mind. Then a feeling of horror fell over her.

'_Do I like Naruto?'_ Ino thought suddenly. Sure, he was hot, but she inwardly snorted at the thought of dating him. Then, she remembered what he said at the shop about her eyes.

'_Well, maybe I could give the guy a chance. He is a real charmer, even if he doesn't know it yet.' _Ino thought. '_But I thought he liked Sakura?' _ Ino instantly banished the thought at the sight of a now covered Naruto approaching her.

"Hey Ino, you need some help cleaning up?" Naruto asks, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Ino turned _almost_ as red as the blood on her shirt from the sequence of nosebleeds.

Before she knew it, she was being carried towards the stream again, with Naruto. And one thing she noticed was how fast he was going. Trees went by like a blur. She had seen some of the ANBU that worked with her father, and they weren't even half as fast as this!

"How are you going this fast?" Ino asks.

"Easy, I pump chakra through my legs." Naruto explained.

Ino mentally facepalmed. Why hadn't she thought of that?

They arrived at the stream, where a trail of blood could be seen passing over the stream on both sides.

'_Did I really lose that much blood?'_ Ino thought.

Ino was snapped back to reality with a yell and a giant SPLASH!

Coming back up to the surface, Ino glared at Naruto, who was standing on top of the water, completely dry.

Naruto smirked and offered her a hand to get up. That proved to be a bad idea when she yanked down on his hand, and swept out his legs from beneath him.

Once they both got back up to the surface, they both scowled at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

'_I haven't had this much fun in a long time!'_ Ino thought.

Then, she decided to turn this up a notch, buy getting her hand behind her, and pulled it forward as fast as she could with her arm underwater. The wave of water slammed down on Naruto, but he exploded in a poof of smoke, and she saw a shadow approaching from behind her. It was a giant wave! Ino shrieked and started swimming, and then realized she was being sucked up by the wave before it approached her, and then the water slammed down _around_ her..?

"What the hell?" Ino wondered out lound.

"Wind manipulation, Ino." Naruto replied with a smirk behind her.

She turned around, but had to hold her nose to stop the nosebleed. He was shirtless, again!

"Put your shirt back on or I'll-"

"**Do what, Ino?"** A husky voice asked from behind her.

Ino turned around to see Naruto looking right into her eyes, with a cheshire grin on his face.

"Well, in your case…" Ino says grinning, and yanks his head down, joining his lips to hers.

**A/N: R&R time everyone! And I also have a poll for other pairings you guys want. Include your choice with the review. I am only including 2!**

**NejiTen**

**SasuSaku**

**ShikaTema**

**Kiba x Hina**

**Iruka x Ayame**

**Those are the ones I am willing to write about, but if you ****really**** want a different pairing, include it in your review, and I'll get back to you about it. See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: All right. The next chapter is up, albeit quite a few months late. I'm sorry. I'm not going to blame it on a virus, computer, or anything. It's my fault, and if I check right, this is probably one of the only late updates without an excuse on FFnet.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. If I did, strawberries would be purple and pigs would fly. 'Cause it's never happening.**

Ino and Naruto ended their liplock in two completely different states of mind.

Naruto, believe it or not, was having the least trouble understanding of what was going on. He liked her. She liked him. Why not kiss her?

For Ino, however, thoughts mobbed her mind.

_OMGWTFWHATAMIGOINGTOSAYTOSAK URADOESHELIKEFLOWERSAMIAGOOD KISSERDOI__**LOVE**__NARUTODOESHELOVEMEBACKISHOUL DGOSHOPPINGANDDRAGHIMALONGAN DTHEN-_

"Umm… Ino? Are you okay?" Naruto asks, snapping her out of her state of mind.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Ino says quickly.

"Well, we should go back. Your dad might be freaking out right now." Naruto adds, hoping to end this somewhat awkward moment.

_2.5 hours later_

"…And that's why I want to go with Naruto to the festival! It'll be fun!" Ino argues.

Inoichi sighs. "Have you ever seen Naruto at the festival?" asks.

Ino thinks about this for a moment.

"Actually, I only saw him once, and he was running from something. I think he was playing hide and seek." Ino explains. "But that was when I was seven, and never saw him since then at the festival."

She sees her father nodding in agreement with something.

"Do you know something that I don't?" Ino asks.

"Maybe." Inoichi says, and leaves the room, leaving Ino wondering.

_Damn, damn, damn, quadruple damn, Inoichi thought. __If Ino gets led to Shikamaru, she will force it out of him. Then, I'll have to teach her about what really happened. As Shikamaru would say, this is just too troublesome._

_At Naruto's House_

Naruto was just about to open his door, when a ruffling inside caught his attention. _Dammit, not now…_Naruto pleads to himself. Whipping out a kunai, and opens the door in the other hand, and is met with a view of a green flak jacket.

_What the fuck? Why is a Jounin in my house?_

Moving forward at a fast pace, he slides behind the Jounin and holds the knife to his neck. "Who are you and what are doing here?" Naruto almost growls out. The answer he got was two words and the lights snapping on.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Naruto was knocked down on his ass, mouth hanging wide open.

"And that is what we are doing here." A chipper voice says from behind him. Naruto inwardly facepalmed.

_Somewhere in Rice Country_

"Kukukukukuku…." Orochimaru chuckles. "Once I summon the Fourth's soul into his original body, I should have complete control. I won't even need a binding seal and a kunai. This, along with my plans, will bring Konoha down to its knees! Imagine the look on their faces when they see their beloved hero fighting among my ranks! And on the day he perished no less!"

"Kabuto!" Orochimaru shouts. A shady figure steps out of the shadows.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto inquires.

"Give me the test results." Orochimaru commands. Kabuto complies, and Orochimaru scans over the contents.

_Subject 1: Failed. Soul and chakra too weak to be permanently restored to body._

_Subject 2: Pass, but has mental instability. Needed the control seal._

_Subject 3: Pass, perfect test. Subject back to original strength and chakra capacity._

_Subject 4: Pass, but subject has no memories of what happened prior to death._

_Subject 5: Fail, heart exploded after soul transfer. Autopsy concluded that shinobi died of natural causes, thus subject had a weak heart._

_This is better than I expected. A 60% survival rate. This has to be one of the most successful experiments_ _I have ever conducted. _

"Kabuto, get the body. I will grab the blood sample from the database. I expect you back here in forty-five minutes." Orochimaru orders.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto replies, and stalks into the darkness.

_In Konoha, Naruto's house_

After much cake and ice cream, it was time for the main event. Tsunade stepped forward out of the crowd of people that _somehow_ managed to find a way to cram themselves into his apartment. In her hand, she held a flak jacket that was identical to Kakashi's.

_This can't be. _Naruto thought.

_Troublesome. _Shikamaru groaned inside his mind.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I hereby promote you to Jounin. You are to report to my office after this party is over to finalize your promotion. Am I understood"? Tsunade announces.

"But Baa-Chan, why can't I finalize it here?"

"You'll see. Just meet me at my office. Now, I have work to do. It was nice to see you all on non-business terms. Have a good night." Tsunade pulled the door shut behind her. The party continues for about another half hour.

"Well, I guess that we should all go home", Kakashi says. Everyone silently agrees and leaves Naruto alone in his apartment.

_Somewhere in Rice Country_

"Kabuto, prepare the chakra seals." Orochimaru orders. He and Kabuto had been pouring their chakra into a seal configuration every night, in order to get the massive chakra pool the Fourth was famous for. Next, they propped the Forth's body on the seal set, and Orochimaru poured the vial of blood onto yet another seal, that was combined to an array of the seals he would need for the perfect _**Edo Tensei**_. In order for this to work, he found out that Minato had done something incredibly stupid. He sealed a very small fraction of his soul away into the Forbidden Scroll, for the express purpose of using it in this manner, but his _**Edo Tensei**_ would use his soul fragment in exchange for another soul to be returned. Here, they were relying on this soul fragment to "pull" the rest of his soul from the Shinigami's stomach.

"Now, Kabuto!" Orochimaru yells. They hop on to the designated spots on the seal array and start to performed the 5 hand seals necessary for the jutsu.

_Stomach of the Shinigami_

Minato looked around at the black and white environment around him; he was sick and tired of this place. Then again, he had Sarutobi to talk to, and that was entertaining. Especially when Sarutobi told him about Naruto. But, he was stuck here forever, since he sacrificed his son and himself for the village. He sighed, and then felt a presence appearing behind him. He turns towards it, a mere look of curiosity on his face. Then, the light started to dim as a white hand flew out from a black abyss that appeared in front of him.

"It's the _**Edo Tensei**_. Interesting." Minato spoke as the world around him faded to black. What he didn't notice was the slight hue of bright light taking his place, and his form.

_Rice Country_

Minato's eyes slowly opened, as he saw two men on the floor passed out due to chakra exhaustion. He immediately noticed Orochimaru, and immediately knew what they did. "That's the reason why you don't always believe what you see, even in the Forbidden Scroll. Also, you fucked with the body of a seal master, don't you think that would end well?" He sighs, and just decides to screw Orochimaru's plans, and royally piss him off. He finds ink and paper and writes two notes. One to give to Orochimaru and kept one so he could frame it and put it on a wall.

_Dear Oro-chan,_

_I would like to thank your snow white, slimy, gay, pedophile ass for getting me out of the Shinigami's stomach. I know what you did. You thought I would really find a way to get out? Did you honestly believe that I wouldn't think that you would look through the Forbidden Scroll for information on resurrecting someone from the Stomach itself? Bitch Puh-lease. I also found child pornography on all of your computers, so I took out the hard drives and burned them with fire jutsu. You're welcome in advance._

_Your friend,_

_Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage_

_P.S- Since I knew that snakes love mice, I put mice (quite destructive ones, I might add) into all of the labs in your hideout. (And yes, the one full of dead little boys, too.)_

He set the note on top of Orochimaru's head, and decided to leave. Then he realized he didn't have any of his _Hiraishin_ kunai in Rice Country. He facepalmed, and decided to just walk through the hideout until he found an exit.

_16 long hallways, 1 left turn, 2 right turns later_

Walking along the hallway, he sensed a fairly strong chakra signature on the door to his left. Curious, he slightly opened the door and peeked in. Almost immediately, a kunai flew right to his face. Deciding to piss whoever it was off, he decided to catch it, and then proceed to spin it around in his hand and stick it in his pocket. **(A/N: Well, where do you think Kakashi got it from?)** Next, he wanted to see who it was, and flicked on the light. He was met by an arrogant Uchiha sporting Fugaku's face.

_Oh, joy._ Minato thought.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Call me Arashi." Minato says. _Heh, I know that false identity for missions would be useful someday?_

Then he adds, "What are your ties with Konohagakure?"

Sasuke scoffed. "My ties? I left that dump years ago. All they did was bitch at me to be patient. I needed power then, and I need it now. They kept telling me that teamwork was the path to power. Fools. Couldn't they see how Itachi was working alone, when he murdered my family?" Sasuke looked a little downtrodden for a second after that comment, and then kept silent.

"I see. So I take it you haven't been told why he did it?" Minato asks. _Honestly, they should have told him. Why let him believe his brother?_

"Why?" Sasuke asked."He told me to hate him, and to find him when he had eyes as powerful as his."

Minato sighed at this. "You see, the Uchiha clan was planning a coup against the Sandaime. Itachi, your brother, as you know was in ANBU. When the news of a coup came in, he immediately requested the job. And then, when it came down to crunch time, he wouldn't let anyone else do the dirty work. He told everyone that he had to do it himself."

"So, everything he told me…was lies?" Sasuke said, disbelieving.

"Yes. He wanted for you to be a hero, as the one who would kill him. As such, you would likely become a hero _and _the leader of the Uchiha clan."

"Wait a second. How do you know this? And I would like to know your actual name. I can read small body movements and tell if someone is lying." Sasuke asked, almost serious.

"Well, let's just say I met Sarutobi a while back." Minato said.

"Wait, Sandaime is dead! That's not possible!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Not under usual circumstances. We both died using the same jutsu, hence in the same place. Though now that I have told you this, I would like to introduce myself." Minato says, and reaches up to his shoulder, molds chakra to his hands, and his Hokage robe appears on his back. "My real name is Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage, wife to Uzumaki Kushina and father to Naruto Uzumaki, or, should I say, Namikaze."

"T-that can't be true!" Sasuke half screams. "You are supposed to be dead!"

"I know." Minato replies calmy. "Your local pedophile in this base of yours tried to use and experimental jutsu of mine against me. Serves him right."

At this, low and behold, Sasuke just busted out laughing, and Minato joined in. After a while, they wiped the tears from their eyes, and Minato again looked serious.

"How would you like to accompany me on my way back to Konoha?" Minato spoke.

"But Orochimaru-" Sasuke started, and was cut off by Minato.

"He's out for the count at the moment, and he won't be up in oh, just about 2 and a half days. And if you are interested, once we are there I could try to reverse engineer that Cursed Seal of yours. Sensei might have some notes on it too, I'll have to talk to Tsunade. Once we are there, I'll probably be shoved back into the Hokage position. First thing I am going to do is get rid of that damned council. Then, we will re-evaluate all of our shinobi and rank them accordingly, since I know the council has had a large influence on shinobi promotions. Finally, I will reinstate you as the third member of Team 7. How does that sound?" Minato finally asks with a little smile across his face.

"That sounds great. Let's get the hell out of here." Sasuke says, and holds out his hand. Minato took it and shook it firmly. They had a deal.

"Now, which way is the exit?" Minato asks. Then he realizes that Sasuke is in the hallway, calmly walking with his hands in his pockets. He then decides to joke around, there was no reason to be serious now anyways.

"Sasu-channnnn, wait up!" Minato whines and does a silly frolic toward Sasuke's back. After a few seconds, Sasuke turns around an looks at Minato with a curious look on his face.

"What smells like burnt plastic?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll show you when we get back." Minato says. "You'll love it."

**A/N: As you can tell, this is now officially an AU fic. And again, I'm extremely sorry for the delay. I honestly forgot about FFnet, until I looked at the web history on my computer and immediately facedesked. Until next time! And don't forget to review :).**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Welcome to this new chapter. I have had many thoughts flying through my mind at school, and I just decided to play with them here, on a screen and keyboard. In a way, it's mind vomit. But that's not the point. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto to you? Nope. So_obviously_I don't own Naruto.

_Just outside of Konoha_

"So, you were right. Orochimaru really _is_ a pedophile!" Sasuke laughs. Man, was it good to laugh at your ex-sensei. Especially when said sensei was as white as a sheet and had a chronic weakness to little boys.

"Yeah" Minato sighs. "Well, here we are, just at the border." He says. Sasuke looks at him oddly, like he's grown a second head.

"At the border of what?" Sasuke asks. "All I see are trees, and this path underneath us."

"We are currently at the maximum range that the security seals can sense. That in mind, I think we have a long overdue return to attend to. Hmm, I still have a few _Hiraishin_ kunai that are still functional, but I don't want to risk it. We'll just use the seal I have in the Hokage's office", Minato figures. He grabs Sasuke's shoulder so he wouldn't move, but Sasuke shrugged off his hand and looked at Minato.

"You go by yourself. My appearance would only make things awkward. Besides, I need to re-acquaint myself with the layout of the village before I return." Sasuke says. Minato nodded in understanding.

"That sounds like a good idea. Thank you for helping me get out of that slimeball's hideout." Minato says.

"No problem" Sasuke replies.

_Hokage's Office_

"Okay, so what did you want to tell me, baa-chan?" Naruto asked, clearly annoyed.

"Well, to put it bluntly, your father left you some stuff." Tsunade said simply. "And he wanted to make sure that you were at least a Jounin before you inherited it."

Naruto was dumbfounded. He knew his father was the Fourth, he learned that during his battle with Pein. But an inheritance...wow.

Tsunade reached into the drawers of the desk and opened a little compartment at the bottom. Inside, there was a three-pronged kunai, with a tag wrapped around the handle. She handed it to Naruto, who just held it in his hand and looked at the seals on the tag. He bowed to look at it closely. For some reason, the ink in the seals was slowly starting to glow. He immediately took it out of his hand and threw it at the wall, since he thought it was reacting to his chakra. Tsunade saw this, and was shocked. What the hell was going on here?!

A flash of light answered that question, and before them was a man who was supposed to be long dead.

"M-Minato?" Tsunade manages to choke out. _Wait a second, this can't be real!_"Y-you must be an imposter! ANBU!" Tsunade ordered.

A millisecond later, he felt an overpowering force enter his mind. He could feel it running through his recent memories, back up to when he was in the Shinigami's stomach. Then, as soon as it started, it stopped, and the sound of a body hitting the floor and laughing came to his ears.

"It's him, alright" The ANBU says, while holding his gut that hurt from laughing so hard. The operative then reached up to his mask, revealing a grinning Inoichi. He held out his hand to Minato. They shook hands. "Welcome back, boy genius." Inoichi says. Minato laughs, then says, "I'm glad to see you too, Inoichi."

"Tou-san?" A shy voice asks from behind Minato. He immediately was at Naruto's side giving him a fatherly hug. "My son…" A few minutes passed, and they pulled apart. Minato then turned to Tsunade.

"I'm guessing you would like to find out how I got here in the first place…" Minato says. Everyone nods. He sat down on the edge of Tsunade's desk, and told his story up to the "Thank you" that he left Orochimaru.

"Now" Minato says. "Tsunade, I know you didn't want the job as Hokage right away, but with your duties now Sakura's training is lagging, I presume. Also, you don't get out as much as you would like, right?" Minato asks. Tsunade nods. "I know how to fix that." Minato says. Tsunade is now hanging on to every word. "Go on!" said. Minato just pointed at the seat that Tsunade was currently sitting in.

There was the sound of the scraping of a chair on a wooden floor, a swoosh, and the scraping again. Minato was now sitting in the Hokage chair, hat still spinning from the force that Tsunade had used as she whisked past him to stand where he was only a second before. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

_The next morning – 10:15 A.M_

It was a fairly brisk morning, the slight breeze making the trees sway and creak; the water in the river a few miles away could be heard if you strained your ears; and a group of birds flew across the open sky, looking for a place to land. This, Minato thought, was heaven. He stretched and yawned, and then turned around and walked back inside, courtesy of the french doors on the patio. He hoped the rest of the day would go as peacefully as his morning had.

_11:00 A.M_

"Here this morning, we are here to introduce you to my replacement!" Tsunade yelled. Murmurs went around the crowd, things like "already?" were prominent. The rest were just stunned into silence. Now, I should introduce him. "He should look familiar…" Tsunade said and turned and looked behind her as to beckon someone forward. From behind her came…The Fourth!

The crowd was absolutely silent. Up on top of the tower, Tsunade actually _heard_ someone shit their pants. Then Naruto stepped out from behind his father's figure. Minato just ruffled his hair. And that's when some people let their opinions known.

"No, he's been tricked by the demon! We should have killed him when we had the chance!"

"Maybe he came back to kill the Kyuubi once and for all!"

"Dammit Kaen, we should have tried harder!" Someone whispered loudly. "He was only four! He should of died!"

Minato…was beyond pissed. He was raging, and his killing intent was so heavy people couldn't breathe. There were 4 flashes, and four sickening tears and squelches. When everyone realized where he was, they were met by a sickening sight. Minato, covered in blood, clutching four hearts in his hands, and the bodies their hearts belonged to were on the ground, eyes wide open.

"That 'demon' you were trying to kill…was my SON!" He yelled. He then saw the look of horror on some brutes' faces. _Much better,_ Minato thought.

"I never thought that this village was one to have no faith in its leader's abilities." Minato started. "And I also never imagined a place where the council has more power than the Hokage. On that note, the whole of the civilian council is now disbanded." After that, Minato let loose a little more killing intent, and everyone shut up. "Any questions?" Minato asked. The only answer he received was absolute silence.

_Perfect._

Wow, another chapter. I'm honestly surprised. Remember to review, and include the pairings that you want, that way I can actually start working on other plotlines to tie into the story. Thanks!

MyPastLife


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